Wednesday, November 12, 2003

I'm going to have to ask my 12-year-old about this one. The new Sony PlayStation2 game, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando has a "character-growth system" (I'm such an old-school geek that I still associate the term with pre-PC-era Dungeons and Dragons) that allows players to earn "nanotech" points. Maybe there's some vague notion of a self-assembly process going on here, since these nanotech units can be earned if your character defeats its enemies.

This, of course, is more evidence that "nano" is the word du jour that connects with kids (and you know Sony doesn't release any new game without running every feature by a series of testers and focus groups).

I've written previously about the nano-generation here, here and here.

But back to the new PlayStation2 game, I always thought "going commando" referred to … um … keeping your nanopants closer to your skin.